Article December 20, 1919 Issue

Spiritual Perception

J. EDWARD REILLY

Jesus was wont to speak by parables to the populace; for, as he said, "in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive." To-day Christian Science demands, as did Jesus, that man shall reach the Horeb height of spiritual vision and see things as they are in reality, and not as they seem to material sense. Christian Science promises that if man will look beyond the veil of sense testimony, he shall find the "pearl of great price;" he shall find health, peace, and life eternal. In point of fact, upon man's spiritual insight and understanding depends his hope of salvation from the bondage of sin, sickness, and death. "How much more should we seek to apprehend the spiritual ideas of God, than to dwell on the objects of sense!" says Mrs. Eddy in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 510). What is it that prevents us from seeing the truth? what but the belief in a mortal or carnal mind, the blinding enemy of mankind, which the illuminating vision of Christian Science dispels in the same way as the darkness is dissipated by the rising sun.

When Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science, it was not a new creation any more than was Newton's discovery of the law of gravitation or Marconi's discovery of the law of wireless telegraphy. The truth she discovered or uncovered was always at the point of vision where she found it, but it required her spiritual insight to perceive it. It was there, but the human mind could not see it; it was expressed in the Bible and the Bible was accepted by the Christian people of the world as the word of God; nevertheless this age was without a seer or prophet until our Leader, through her purified and uplifted thought, pierced the veil of sense and beheld the light of Life, Truth, and Love, as the watchful shepherds of Bethlehem saw the light that flooded the hillside about them, out of which came the glad tidings of the birth of the Savior. In "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 1) Mrs. Eddy says, "Goodness reveals another scene and another self seemingly rolled up in shades, but brought to light by the evolutions of advancing thought, whereby we discern the power of Truth and Love to heal the sick."

After the crucifixion, the chastened affections of Mary Magdalene lifted her thought above the stern evidence of death and enabled her to be the first of Jesus' followers to see that he had risen. Thomas, on the other hand, mystified by doubt and despondency, refused to accept the testimony of his brother disciples who had seen their risen Master, and would not believe until he could examine the wounds in Jesus' hands and side. The loving reproof of Jesus after he had patiently presented the material evidence, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed," shows how he longed for this disciple to lift his vision through awakened faith and purified consciousness to behold, as did Mary Magdalene and the other disciples, the living, incorporeal Christ.

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